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TEXT D If the Federation of American Scientists made a list of educational video games, you might expect to find Oregon Trai ,the Story of Conestoga Wagons Trekking into the American West ,or the geography favorite Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiegol And don’t forget Half-Life 2. That’s the one where you burn alien zombies to death with exploding barrels of fuel. OK, that’s exaggerating—but only a little. Where parents see hours wasted in front of a screen, these scientists see potential. An FAS study released this week, titled "Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning, "reports that best-selling games are built in surprisingly pedagogical ways. Players improve at their own pace. Beating a level requires experimentation, failure and learning from mistakes. Most new games can be played online, requiring collaboration and leadership. Game play is precisely calibrated to balance challenge and progress. It’s a stark contrast to a typical classroom in which one teacher tries to engage 30 students with printed information. "It’s like hiring an individual tutor for every student," says FAS president Henry Kelly of using video games to teach. "There’s a big argument going on now about whether kids are being tested too much or too little. In a game, you’re continuously being tested and, you don’t mind it." Some commercial games are already being used in the classroom. The Civilization series lets users build empires in ancient Persia and other historical periods, and Roller Coaster Tycoon, where players construct a theme park, combines physics and business management. And the U. S. military makes extensive use of video simulations: the Army reports 7.6 million users have registered for America’s Army, a training and recruiting game. The report calls for a new generation of educational games that are as immersive and graphics-intensive as megabudget titles like Madden NFL 07 and Battlefield 2142. "When you show a child a traditional educational game, they’ll roll their eyes," says Kay Howell, a coauthor of the study. "But I don’t think they roll their eyes because it’s learning; I think it’s because there’s such a huge and obvious gap in quality compared to what they play at home." The federal government, she says, should close that gap by underwriting new game-publishing houses. But some educational observers find the video game recommendations too unorthodox. "This is really silly, "says Chester E. Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a K-12 education research group in Washington." Are they next going to propose government-funded studies of the educational value of comic books, reality TV shows and instant messaging" Other critics contend the report’s recommendations shouldn’t be seen as a cure all. "We think it’s a good idea that this stuff is being explored, "says Chad Colby, a spokesman for the Department of Education." People do tend to look at these things as silver bullets, or a fix in them selves, when it’s really one tool out of many. "The larger problem with the federation’s ideas, Colby says, is a lack of familiarity with how education funding works: only 8. 3 percent of the country’s total education budget comes from the federal government, and most of that is targeted toward students in poverty. The stndy’s recommendations might be hard to implement: not all school districts have computers and networks capable of running high-end games. The FAS report calls for the production of games that can be Web-based and downloadable to PCs, but it might be less expensive to design games for the established consoles that many families already have at home. "These are technologies that kids and young adults are living with every day of their lives," says Howell. "Why do we expect" What’s Howell’s reaction to the study’s recommendations
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In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your answer sheet. TEXT A Theodoric Voler had been brought up, from infancy to the confines of middle age, by a fond mother whose chief solicitude had been to keep him screened from what she called the coarser realities of life. When she died she left Theodoric alone in a world that was as real as ever, and a good deal coarser than he considered it had any need to be. To a man of his temperament and upbringing even a simple railway journey was crammed with petty annoyances and minor discords, and as he settled himself down in a second-class compartment one September morning he was conscious of ruffled feelings and general mental discomposure. He bad been staying at a country vicarage, the inmates of which had been certainly neither brutal nor bacchanalian, but their supervision of the domestic establishment had been of that lax order which invites disaster. The pony carriage that was to take him to the station had never been properly ordered, and when the moment for his departure drew near, the handyman who should have produced the required article was nowhere to be found. In this emergency Theodoric, to his mute but very intense disgust, found himself obliged to collaborate with the vicar’s daughter in the task of harnessing the pony, which necessitated groping about in an ill-lighted outbuilding called a stable, and smelling very like one—except in patches where it smelled of mice. As the train glided out of the station Theodoric’s nervous imagination accused himself of exhaling a weak odour of stable yard, and possibly of displaying a mouldy straw or two on his unusually well brushed garments. Fortunately the only other occupation of the compartment, a lady of about the same age as himself, seemed inclined for slumber rather than scrutiny; the train was not due to stop till the terminus was reached, in about an hour’s time, and the carriage was of the old fashioned sort that held no communication with a corridor, therefore no further travelling companions were likely to intrude on Theodoric’s semiprivacy. And yet the train had scarcely attained its normal speed before he became reluctantly but vividly aware that he was not alone with the slumbering lady; he was not even alone in his own clothes. A warm, creeping movement over his flesh betrayed the unwelcome and highly resented presence, unseen but poignant, of a strayed mouse, that had evidently dashed into its present retreat during the episode of the pony harnessing. Furtive stamps and shakes and wildly directed pinches failed to dislodge the intruder, whose motto, indeed, seemed to be Excelsior; and the lawful occupant of the clothes lay back against the cushions and endeavoured rapidly to evolve some means for putting an end to the dual ownership. Theodoric was goaded into the most audacious undertaking of his life. Crimsoning to the hue of a beetroot and keeping an agonised watch on his slumbering fellow traveller, he swiftly and noiselessly secured the ends of his railway rug to the racks on either side of the carriage, so that a substantial curtain hung athwart the compartment. In the narrow dressing room that he had thus improvised he proceeded with violent haste to extricate himself partially and the mouse entirely from the surrounding casings of tweed and half-wool. As the unravelled mouse gave a wild leap to the floor, the rug, slipping its fastening at either end, also came down with a heart-curdling flop, and almost simultaneously the awakened sleeper opened her eyes. With a movement almost quicker than the mouse’s, Theodoric pounced on the rug and hauled its ample folds chin-high over his dismantled person as he collapsed into the farther corner of the carriage. The blood raced and beat in the veins of his neck and forehead, while he waited dumbly for the communication cord to be pulled. The lady, however, contented herself with a silent stare at her strangely muffled companion. How much had she seen, Theodoric queried to himself; and in any case what on earth must she think of his present posture Which of the following does NOT describe Theodoric’s feeling when he was on the train
TEXT C The United Nations was founded to promote peace, prosperity and human rights. It is doing somewhat better on the first two counts than its critics sometimes make out. The last, however, has been such a failure that it is threatening to bring the whole edifice down. Once revered as the creator of all the great universal human-rights rules and instruments, the 53-member Commission on Human Rights has been thoroughly discredited. If it cannot be fixed it needs to be scrapped. In its present form it serves only to make a mockery of the cause. The reason for this is simple enough. The present committee is packed with members who are themselves serial abusers of human rights. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, admits that their main purpose in being on the committee is not to strengthen human rights but to protect themselves from criticism. At present, these members include exemplars of virtue such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Russia—a veritable roll call of the worst offenders. A plan of sorts exists to reform this mess. Mr. Annan called for the replacement of the commission, which at present meets for just six weeks once a year, by a leaner, tougher, year-round Human Rights Council, which would he ready to act whenever serious abuse was discovered, and whose members should have a solid record on human rights. America and the other leading democracies backed the idea. The serial abusers did not. In the wrangling at a summit on wider UN reforms, Mr. Annan’s baby was reduced to a skeleton. Many wondered whether it could survive. Amazingly, it has just. There is now agreement on the need for a new body, on a par with the Security Council, that would meet several times a year including, when necessary, for emergencies. But its size, powers and composition are still up for grabs. The Americans want no more than 30 members, all with solid human-rights credentials, elected by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly, along with a routine review of human rights in all 191 UN member states. The abusers want as big a body as possible, elected by a simple majority, as at present, with no membership criteria, and no automatic peer review. Any reform must not just shrink the commission, but must also change the way in which members are elected. At present, regions usually put forward a slate of candidates corresponding to their allotted number of seats, which the General Assembly votes on to the commission as a block. Under one sensible proposal, regions would be required to put forward more contestants than their quota. Each candidate country would then stand separately for election by the General Assembly. Early peer review of all members would further reduce the temptation for thugs to try to get seats. But opposition is fierce, not only from the most notorious offenders, but also from those middle-ranking ones who fear their relatively minor abuses would be put under the spotlight. Timing is tight. The old, unreformed commission is due to hold its next annual meeting. Mr. Annan wants a new one to be ready to take over by then. That means reaching agreement on a blueprint within the next few weeks. If agreement is stymied, the next-best solution will be to wind the existing commission up altogether. Human rights matter too much for the UN to continue to shunt the subject off to a cynical talking shop that has become home to the worst violators. That just blackens the overall reputation of the UN. Which of the following is NOT true of the United Nations
TEXT D If the Federation of American Scientists made a list of educational video games, you might expect to find Oregon Trai ,the Story of Conestoga Wagons Trekking into the American West ,or the geography favorite Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiegol And don’t forget Half-Life 2. That’s the one where you burn alien zombies to death with exploding barrels of fuel. OK, that’s exaggerating—but only a little. Where parents see hours wasted in front of a screen, these scientists see potential. An FAS study released this week, titled "Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning, "reports that best-selling games are built in surprisingly pedagogical ways. Players improve at their own pace. Beating a level requires experimentation, failure and learning from mistakes. Most new games can be played online, requiring collaboration and leadership. Game play is precisely calibrated to balance challenge and progress. It’s a stark contrast to a typical classroom in which one teacher tries to engage 30 students with printed information. "It’s like hiring an individual tutor for every student," says FAS president Henry Kelly of using video games to teach. "There’s a big argument going on now about whether kids are being tested too much or too little. In a game, you’re continuously being tested and, you don’t mind it." Some commercial games are already being used in the classroom. The Civilization series lets users build empires in ancient Persia and other historical periods, and Roller Coaster Tycoon, where players construct a theme park, combines physics and business management. And the U. S. military makes extensive use of video simulations: the Army reports 7.6 million users have registered for America’s Army, a training and recruiting game. The report calls for a new generation of educational games that are as immersive and graphics-intensive as megabudget titles like Madden NFL 07 and Battlefield 2142. "When you show a child a traditional educational game, they’ll roll their eyes," says Kay Howell, a coauthor of the study. "But I don’t think they roll their eyes because it’s learning; I think it’s because there’s such a huge and obvious gap in quality compared to what they play at home." The federal government, she says, should close that gap by underwriting new game-publishing houses. But some educational observers find the video game recommendations too unorthodox. "This is really silly, "says Chester E. Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a K-12 education research group in Washington." Are they next going to propose government-funded studies of the educational value of comic books, reality TV shows and instant messaging" Other critics contend the report’s recommendations shouldn’t be seen as a cure all. "We think it’s a good idea that this stuff is being explored, "says Chad Colby, a spokesman for the Department of Education." People do tend to look at these things as silver bullets, or a fix in them selves, when it’s really one tool out of many. "The larger problem with the federation’s ideas, Colby says, is a lack of familiarity with how education funding works: only 8. 3 percent of the country’s total education budget comes from the federal government, and most of that is targeted toward students in poverty. The stndy’s recommendations might be hard to implement: not all school districts have computers and networks capable of running high-end games. The FAS report calls for the production of games that can be Web-based and downloadable to PCs, but it might be less expensive to design games for the established consoles that many families already have at home. "These are technologies that kids and young adults are living with every day of their lives," says Howell. "Why do we expect" Some people are opposed to the report because
TEXT D If the Federation of American Scientists made a list of educational video games, you might expect to find Oregon Trai ,the Story of Conestoga Wagons Trekking into the American West ,or the geography favorite Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiegol And don’t forget Half-Life 2. That’s the one where you burn alien zombies to death with exploding barrels of fuel. OK, that’s exaggerating—but only a little. Where parents see hours wasted in front of a screen, these scientists see potential. An FAS study released this week, titled "Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning, "reports that best-selling games are built in surprisingly pedagogical ways. Players improve at their own pace. Beating a level requires experimentation, failure and learning from mistakes. Most new games can be played online, requiring collaboration and leadership. Game play is precisely calibrated to balance challenge and progress. It’s a stark contrast to a typical classroom in which one teacher tries to engage 30 students with printed information. "It’s like hiring an individual tutor for every student," says FAS president Henry Kelly of using video games to teach. "There’s a big argument going on now about whether kids are being tested too much or too little. In a game, you’re continuously being tested and, you don’t mind it." Some commercial games are already being used in the classroom. The Civilization series lets users build empires in ancient Persia and other historical periods, and Roller Coaster Tycoon, where players construct a theme park, combines physics and business management. And the U. S. military makes extensive use of video simulations: the Army reports 7.6 million users have registered for America’s Army, a training and recruiting game. The report calls for a new generation of educational games that are as immersive and graphics-intensive as megabudget titles like Madden NFL 07 and Battlefield 2142. "When you show a child a traditional educational game, they’ll roll their eyes," says Kay Howell, a coauthor of the study. "But I don’t think they roll their eyes because it’s learning; I think it’s because there’s such a huge and obvious gap in quality compared to what they play at home." The federal government, she says, should close that gap by underwriting new game-publishing houses. But some educational observers find the video game recommendations too unorthodox. "This is really silly, "says Chester E. Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a K-12 education research group in Washington." Are they next going to propose government-funded studies of the educational value of comic books, reality TV shows and instant messaging" Other critics contend the report’s recommendations shouldn’t be seen as a cure all. "We think it’s a good idea that this stuff is being explored, "says Chad Colby, a spokesman for the Department of Education." People do tend to look at these things as silver bullets, or a fix in them selves, when it’s really one tool out of many. "The larger problem with the federation’s ideas, Colby says, is a lack of familiarity with how education funding works: only 8. 3 percent of the country’s total education budget comes from the federal government, and most of that is targeted toward students in poverty. The stndy’s recommendations might be hard to implement: not all school districts have computers and networks capable of running high-end games. The FAS report calls for the production of games that can be Web-based and downloadable to PCs, but it might be less expensive to design games for the established consoles that many families already have at home. "These are technologies that kids and young adults are living with every day of their lives," says Howell. "Why do we expect" The Federation of American Scientists believes that
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